We hired Neive to rethink our backyard. We told her how we wanted to use the space, gave her a handful of sketches we had cobbled together from trying to make sense of what we thought we wanted, and also sent her a bunch of pics of landscapes we liked. Before and during our initial meeting, she really took the time to understand all of our wants and requirements, asked a ton of great questions, then measured and photographed the existing site extensively before moving on to the design phase. From our conversations, we could tell that she not only had great ideas, but was also an expert in Native Southern California trees and plants, which was important to us.
A week later, she showed us multiple hardscape and planting layout options, all with surprising details we hadn't thought of. She also presented a detailed proposed plant list to help us get a sense of color palette and visualize the layout. We loved all the designs but landed on a favorite. We gave her feedback, which she talked through with us thoroughly while walking around the site. It allowed us to work together to come up with ideas, tweak details and agree on possible solutions without going through multiple rounds of design back and forth.
She delivered a final design plan for approval, followed by a site plan, hardscape plan, planting schedule, planting plan and lighting plan, then oversaw the hardscape install and planting process. We ended up with a back yard we couldn't have had without Neive. And it enjoyable, and efficient (which is not always the case with home design projects).
We absolutely loved working with Neive. Besides her talent and creativity, she works with confidence, which means she listens and respects her clients but also knows when to stand up for her ideas. She also loves what she does, which made the process fun and got us the back yard we wanted. read more